Stores cleaned out post Ike, waiting on GPM Inc to rebuild

My family managed to make it back to Galveston on Monday, September 22, ahead of the official opening of Galveston Island on Wednesday, September 24. They came home to a royal mess. The town stunk, debris and sludge everywhere, including up the second story of both Tina's and The Admiralty on the Strand.

The official report from teh National Weather Service is that the bay side of the island saw a 13 ft. storm surge and the seawall side saw 14 foot. Whew!

The Admiralty was the biggest mess for some reason and I really regret not downloading more photos from my sisters camera, as they still have no power and no Internet to send me images. It took several days to clean out the stores and my sister's house in Fish Village had to be gutted as well.

My parents condo on the East End fared ok, but got an inch or two of water that will still require them to move out for repairs. At least they have electricity and A/C.

They really miss the news, so I call them and fill them in on things like the curfew being 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. and the fact that the Dow dropped more than 700 points today, the biggest drop in history.

My Dad sits on his balcony and watches 65 ft. boats being hauled out of the bay by their stern and thanks God he sold his sail boat a year earlier. Everyone has met up with insurance folks and cleaning crews and are ready to do repairs, but both stores are empty, waiting for the property owners, GPM, Inc., to come and tear out and rebuild.

No word when that will happen, but we hope soon, everyone is ready to get back to work.

Post Ike Photos of Tina's

It looks worse than it is. At first I was devastated by the pictures I saw, especially of The Admiralty, which fared far worse than Tina's. But after taking another look and really thinking about what it would take to get the store back up and running, I think this is a very doable situation. We just need to be able to get down there to work.

Eric made it back, but I only was able to down load a couple photos before the battery on the camera died, so more will come tomorrow. Boyce, Tina's manager, got Eric on the island with one of her fabulous connections and she seemed relatively hopeful today when I talked with her. Of course, if you know Boyce, there are no bad days, but she was realistic in looking at what had to be done.

The weird thing about the storm damage inside the buildings was the randomness of how things moved. Tables that were on the first floor, floated up to the second level, some with the things on top untouched.

I loved this photo taken by the woman who helped Boyce and Eric get on the island. You can see the waterline on the wall and that was on the second floor of the store.

Pretty much everything downstairs was turned upside down, except the Casafina table, which has beautiful serving pieces filled with mud.

Today was a very rough day for everyone. My sister's house was flooded to three feet or so, but I think it can be fixed if we get in there soon. My parents condo seems to be ok, but The Admiralty will need a lot of work and the mold is growing so fast, I'm afraid that may be our biggest worry.

I will get more images tomorrow, but for now I bid you good night.

Getting into Galveston; you gotta have friends

My brother-in-law arrived in Galveston very early this morning, but was turned away with the good story he conjured. He is there right now though, because a friend of a friends, former boy friend was once a Galveston official and she got a pass to come back.

This is deplorable. Business owners and families need to be able to assess whether the damage was so extensive they will be able to open or move in again, even after a thorough cleaning. We still aren't sure, but the damage is less at Tina's and extensive at The Admiralty. The water rose just above the cash wrap at The Admiralty. The cases were shattered and I am very concerned about the state of my father's beautiful model, the Lexington.

My father, Allen LeCornu is a master model ship builder, I dare say one of the best in the world. Many of his beautiful works were on display at The Admiralty, including the Lexington, which featured 35 scratch-built hull frames, each constructed with eight separate pieces of wood. All the deck and hull planking are drilled and tee nailed. It may be all right, but it also may not.

Eric tried to go through The Admiralty's back doors into Old Galveston Square, but the wood flooring was so badly warped the doors wouldn't budge.

Tina's it appears, is spared the higher water, but the store was soaked on both levels.

I'll post again when I have more news. Eric is headed to his and my sister's new home in Fish Village. He is also going to check out my parent's home, which friends said was spared, but you just don't know until the doors are open.

The City of Galveston needs to get its you-know-what together and find a system for letting folks back in to do work before the mold and water ruins everything they have worked a lifetime to build.

My warmest thoughts to everyone who is sitting and waiting for information.

Look & Leave Short Lived--Galveston Still closed

Well, my sister and her husband planned to leave at 2:00 a.m. to get into Galveston first thing this morning, but got news just as they were going to bed that the Look and Leave policy was rescinded after one day.

I understand the total chaos and the need to suspend L & L, but not being able to see or do anything is frustrating. 

We found this cool link on KHOU.com that has satellite images of the island (actually the whole area) post storm. They aren't live, but they were taken after the water receded.

More news as I get it, but everyone is in a holding pattern and anxious to get busy with restoration.

Wrong news...stores did flood.

Well, getting information has been tough, but the latest word is that there was at least 10 feet of water on the Strand and that means that the second levels of the stores would have been topped by at least two feet of yuck and sludge.

Very sad news.  Yesterday, we were optimistic.  Today is a bit different.  We don't know what to think.  We are worried about so many issues.  Can we rebuild; how long before the city has the infrastructure to support local businesses. Will anyone rebuild around us; can they, did they have enough insurance.  

Again, in the absence of information, we sit and make lots of assumptions, but we can't make decisions without facts and there is a big gap in those right now.

Relatively Good News for two stores!

Galveston photography and friend, Robert Mihovil, stopped by Tina's and The Admiralty in the Galveston Strand Historic District yesterday to check on conditions of the two stores.  From what he could see, it looks as though the storm surge stopped before it reached the second level of both stores, which is certainly a relief.

Luigi's, next door to Tina's did not fair so well, Mihovil reported, as all the windows were blown out with table cloths and furniture strewn everywhere.

My parents, owners of Tina's and The Admiralty,  home was spared it appears, with a shallow waterline only on the garage, but not the back side of their east end condo. We'll have to see what happened inside.  

My sister Leslie and her husband's brand new home in Fish Village took about two feet of water, but is structurally sound from reports. They haven't even made their first mortgage payment yet. 

Tina's manager Boyce rode out the storm safely in League City.   

Devastating Images Post Hurricane Ike

This is the best collection of photos of damage from Hurricane Ike I've seen yet.  There are images of the Strand area; number 8 and 153, but I'm still looking for more. No images of Tina's or The Admiralty.

See this link to the Austin American-Statesman.

Here is a link to a good article from the Statesman as well.

Updates to come as I receive them, but Galveston Island is in some trouble for sure.